further, is still in its very early stages, and after allowing fully for the exigencies of space, lighting, etc., a considerable rearrangement of the actual placing of some exhibits, whereby they may be brought into a more logical order, seems both possible and essential. The extent to which the ideal may be approached varies, of course, very much with the area or topic under consideration, and there will be as many different estimates as to what should or not be included as there are methods of teaching economic geography, or one might even say as many as there are teachers of the subject, for few other subjects offer such opportunities for individualistic methods of approach. But all areas and all methods require some adequate representation of location, both as regards world position and with more detailed reference to the British Isles; require, also, indications of the conditions of relief and climate, and of those of production, distribution, and consumption. In nearly all sections such fundamentals have received at least partial recognition. The work of replanning has, it is understood, proceeded furthest in the New Zealand Court, and though, as a fact, the total contents of this section do not seem to reach the level of some other courts, it is useful and convenient to examine this section in some detail. Especially is this true since from many points of view the region is one of the easiest with which to deal in this matter of graphic illustration. First, then, with reference to the actual content of the courts. While some form of illustration of most of the simple data of economic geography is included here, beyond the introduction of a world-map of complicated detail the important consideration of position is entirely neglected. A much more effective illustration of world position, and in particular of position with regard to the British Isles, with representation of distance in terms of time, is necessary and could be very easily supplied. Beyond this, the study of the area itself begins with that of the relief model-one of the most conspicuous exhibits, but one that is by no means the most satisfactory. It is well exposed, of suitable scale, but in colour is more than unattractive, and in proportion to what must have been a heavy cost of production it illustrates very little. Indeed, it merely conveys to the onlooker some vague idea as to the lie of the land and the position of the chief railway routes. The value of any relief model, unless possibly that which represents a definitely restricted area and which is constructed with considerable accuracy, is always to be debated, and the model here would surely give rise to highly erroneous ideas, unless its use is accompanied by more explanation than is possible under exhibition conditions. Consider, for example, the position of any one attempting to treat such important features as those of the Continental Shelf, the drainage systems, or glacial areas all features with considerable economic significance, but for all of which the model as it stands is practically useless. On the other hand, it could be made really valuable for some purposes by marking thereon the main vegetation belts, a matter apparently of easy execution, and illustrating most successfully the correlation of vegetation with altitude. The model, further, might indicate "human regions of the islands. It certainly should show lines of external trade connections, and connections with the islands' ports, and possibly might show in addition the character of the trade. For even the simplest teaching from such a model reference to climatic conditions is naturally essential. But, so far at any rate, there are no illustrations of climate, and one of the first additions to be made, it is suggested, is that of climatic maps, to include at least maps of rainfall distribution, both spatial and seasonal, on a sufficiently large scale, and also some form of representation of temperature variations, all displayed in immediate juxtaposition to the relief model. There are other large-scale models representative, in aim at any rate, of types of country, scenes in agricultural areas, and similar subjects. Such a form of exhibit necessarily makes serious demands on floor and wall space, is relatively expensive, and even at best (and two excellent models are included) can be only very generally and vaguely true to facts. At their worst such models are deplorable. One wonders what real conception is gained from such a model as that of the pastoral scene, which is not definitely characteristic of New Zealand, and might almost equally well have appeared in certain other courts. In general, and from many different points of view, the advantages of models of this type over a well-executed photographic illustration are slight, as is appreciated immediately if one balances a possible increased effectiveness over against the truer detail and easier production and display of the pictorial representation. The picture frieze shown in this gallery, moreover, although necessarily somewhat " skied," is unusually attractive, and the majority of subjects, though not all, are well selected. In considering the exhibition of actual products one comes, of course, to the real core of the matter. Cabinet cases of the usual type show each a particular product at various stages of its utilization and give explanatory notes. The value of such cases is various: some are perhaps better suited for a commercial purposes display; others are of definite geographic worth. But in connection with even the best one feels strongly the lack of distribution maps and diagrams. This criticism, moreover, is applicable to the whole exhibition, and if the galleries are to serve in any sense as aids to the serious teaching of economic geography, and are to offer opportunity for a proper appreciation of the characteristics of production, it is important that this lack should be remedied. Fortunately it is comparatively easy and inexpensive. Small-scale maps indicating the chief areas producing single commodities are, it is true, affixed to most cases, but these are merely locational, and cannot be correlated one with the other. Nowhere does a series of illustrations appear. Yet for all the major items of production these should be given, and should include records, for example, of the relative importance of the chief products under average conditions of production. As it stands, it would be quite possible for even a careful observer to leave the exhibition without the least appreciation of what were the most vital elements of the country's trade. The bases for such comparative illustration must of course vary in particular examples: money values, however, as sometimes introduced here, are clearly not always suitable as a base, especially for commodities whose value is naturally fluctuating or artificially controlled. And this is the case of several leading New Zealand products. Representations of the status of the area in world trade with regard to the chief commodities are also required, and illustrations of the rise or decline of the area in this respect. Again, a matter of even more final importance, illustrations of the distributions of the products are wanted. With all the recent attention to Empire trade, some indication of the proportions received by Great Britain, and some comparison of these with those of outside areas are desirable, even if only for the opportunity afforded for driving home a realization of the growth of competition and the need for increasing attention on our part. As it stands at present, again, the intelligent observer may conceivably leave without any definite idea of the essential nature of the trade relationships between New Zealand and Great Britain. But these trade relationships are in causal connection with other forms of social and economic relations, the realization of which represents one of the ultimate objects of such exhibitions. Fortunately, suitable illustration is simple. In comparison with such, the mere multiplication of specimen products seems of little value. This is particularly true with regard to some products, where differentiation between the specimens shown really demands detailed and specialized knowledge of the matter, opportunity for close examination and handling of the product, and more constant and expert guidance than could possibly be provided. Thus, it is suggested, certain cases of small specimens of mineral wealth or forest products should give immediate place to further representation by some means or other of the salient characteristics of trade conditions and relations. Such considerations lead naturally to those of internal and external communications, and these also apparently have received slight attention up to the present. To the mere representation of railways on the relief model should be added illustrations of the direction of movement of the chief commodities, the volume of trade along main lines, the ports of export and receipt, distinctive features of the trade of the leading ports, etc.-all matters of such fundamental importance and such obvious inter-relations that one's only excuse for thus enumerating them is that they have certainly not been adequately recognized in the scheme. Elaborate diagrams are of course not intended, the production in clear display of such being probably an unpractical proposition, even were there not the root difficulty that in proportion to their accuracy they : would need constant alteration and correction. But simple generalized illustrations, as graphic as may be, are certainly possible and essential. Another omission becomes apparent when one turns to the study of settlement it is generally true that there is no attempt made to show population conditions. Yet a country such as this with, on the whole, well-cut "edges" to its natural divisions, offers excellent opportunity for simple representation of the control of population distribution by physiographic conditions, or for tracing variations in population density, according to time interval or space relation. When, moreover, questions as to the emptiness of parts of the Empire, and projects for the redistribution of the Empire population are matters of such constant and everyday expression that references to them become platitudes, it is imperative to offer wherever possible a certain amount of authentic-and corrective— knowledge. General "density" maps or symbolic maps of selected districts, constructed in accordance, for example, with De Geer's plan, would be of real benefit. B. HOSGOOD. THE FIRST WESTWARD VOYAGE FROM EUROPE TO JAPAN, 1598-1600 De Reis van Mahu en De Cordes door de Straat van Magalhães naar ZuidAmerica en Japan, 1598-1600.- Uitgegeven en toegelicht door Dr. F. C. Wieder. (Werken uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, XXI., XXII., XXIV.) The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. 1923, 1924, 1925. 10 × 63, pp. xv. + 319; xii. + 119; iv. + 231. Illustrations, Maps, and Folding Tables. Price (to members) 12 fl. each volume. N 27 June 1598 there sailed from Goree, equipped at the cost of certain merchants of Rotterdam, a little fleet of five Dutch vessels: the Hoop (Hope), the Liefde (Charity), the Geloof (Faith), the Trouw (Fidelity), and the Blijde Boodschap (Good Tidings-later Flying Hart). As Admiral in command of this assemblage of the cardinal virtues went Jacques Mahu (Hope), with Simon de Cordes (Charity) as his second-in-command. Their objective was the Pacific, and their route lay via the Strait of Magellan. As a trading adventure, the voyage was a disastrous failure. Mahu, a marine Fabius Cunctator, spent three months in reaching the Guinea coast, where he died. De Cordes, equally impetuous, took over six months more to arrive at Magellan Strait, where, in spite of several opportunities to press on, he decided to winter-in which high adventure he expended most of the fleet's provisions and lost, through hardship and privation, upwards of 120 men. On 3 September 1599 the fleet, its number increased to six ships by the building during the winter of a small sloop, the Postillon, at last reached the Pacific, only to be immediately dispersed by a storm, and that so thoroughly that, with one or two temporary exceptions, none of its members came again into company. The Hope made for the appointed rendezvous, the island of Santa Maria, off Chile, before reaching which De Cordes and twenty-three men were killed on the mainland by the natives. On arrival she found the Charity, which had touched at Mocha (also off Chile), where De Cordes' second in-command, Van Beuningen, and twenty-seven men had met with a similar fate. Both ships then made sail for Japan, where the Hope arrived with twenty-four men all told, out of an original complement of 130. Most of the survivors ultimately made their way back to Europe, but the ship was retained by the Japanese, together with her pilot, the famous William Adams. The Charity, which had parted company with the Hope in mid-Pacific, was never heard of again, and the same tale has to be told of the Postillon. The Good Tidings found her way to Santiago, and was there seized by the Spaniards. The Faith and Fidelity, in company, turned back to shelter in the Strait, but the latter was blown from her anchorage a few days later, and after some adventures on the coast of Peru crossed the Pacific to the Moluccas, only to fall into the hands of the Portuguese. The Faith, under Sebald de Weert, set her course for Europe, and after falling in, before getting clear of the Strait. with a second fleet of four Dutch vessels under Oliver van Noort, which had sailed a month later than Mahu's, and whose commander was destined to become the first Dutch circumnavigator, entered the South Atlantic. Incidentally re-discovering the Falkland Islands en route, she reached Goree safely on 13 July 1600, the only ship of the five to return. She had been absent two years and sixteen days, a time which, as Burney severely but justly remarks, "had been greatly misemployed." In all, out of five ships and upwards of five hundred men, one ship and some fifty men made their way home empty-handed. Historically, however, this ill-fated expedition was of great importance. Its units were the first Dutch vessels to sail through Magellan Strait, two of them were the first of that nation to cross the Pacific, and one, the Hope, was the first, not only of Holland but of any nation, to reach Japan by a west ward route. Moreover one member of its personnel, Jan Outghersz, pilot of the Faith, has a special claim to remembrance, since he was the author of the first reliable chart, with accompanying sailing directions, of the tortuous and wind-swept highway to which Magellan gave his name, and which was long regarded as the only entrance to the "South Sea." Several partial accounts of this celebrated expedition have appeared at various times, both in its own day and later (an excellent one, compiled from various sources, is to be found in Burney, vol. 2, pp. 186-204), but none is very complete, and all have long been out of print. Thanks to the Linschoten Society, however, and to Dr. F. C. Wieder, who has edited the work, geographers have now been put in possession of a most valuable collection, in three volumes, of original documents relative to the doings of Mahu's fleet, carefully compiled, fully annotated, and supplemented by admirable disquisitions upon the various topics of principal interest. The first volume deals with the events of the voyage-the preparation and manning of the ships, their adventures, and their varied fates. Beginning with all available data relating to the merchants who undertook the adventure, the provision of the ships and stores, and the composition of the personnel (including nominal lists and brief biographies of all the men who are known, by name, to have taken part in the expedition), it proceeds, after giving a short list of the correspondence exchanged between the best-known of its various captains, Sebald de Weert, and his family, and a collection of passages reprinted from the works of contemporary Dutch, French, and German historians who have given an account of the voyage, to reproduce in full the journal of Barent Jansz, barber-surgeon of the Faith. This journal (originally published by Zacharias Heyns, of Amsterdam, in 1600) is much the fullest account of the |